Sigourney wales



(No Model.)

S. WALES.

CLASP FOR SUPPORTING ARTICLES.

No. 348,872. Patented Sept. '7, 1886.

livvenior: Sclgourmy 619 b M/lilorney- 'VVi'ines-ses: Mia @Q N. PETERS, Phntmhmognpber, Washington. D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SIGOURNEY IVALES, OF CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO HARRIO'I H. \VALES, OF SAME PLACE.

CLASP FOR SUPPORTING ARTICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No, 348,872, dated September '7, 1886.

Application filed April 5, 1886. Serial No. 197,801. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, Sroo'UENEY WALEs, of Cambridge, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clasps for Supporting; or Securing Various Articles, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, is a specification.

My invention relates to clasps for supporting or securing together various articles of wearing-apparel; and it consists in certain novel features of construction, arrangement, and combination of parts, which will be readily understood by reference to the description of the drawings, and to the claims to be hereinafter given.

Figure l of the drawings is a front elevation of a clasp embodying my invention adapted for use as a stocking-sopporter. Fig. 2 is an edge view of the same with theparts in the position they occupy when clasping the stocking. Fig. 3 is a similar view with the parts in position to receive the stocking or otherarticle to be supported thereby. Fig. 4 is a front 2 elevation of the sheet-metal blank from which the base-plate is to be formed as it comes from the cutting-dies. Fig. 5 is a frontelevation of said plate after its several parts have been bent to the desired shape. Fig. (i is an edge 33 view of the same ready to receive the clasping bail or stirrup and the toggle-like operating-lever; and Fig. 7 represents my improved clasp adapted to securing together the two parts of separable articles of wearing-appa- 35 rel--as corsets or overshoes; and Figs. 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 represent other forms of clasps embodying the same principle, but differing slightly in construction.

In the drawings, A is the base or bed plate,

0 stamped from sheet metal in the form shown in Fig. 4, or at the right hand of Fig. 7, and having the cars a a bent outward therefrom and at right angles thereto, and also with the hook I) bent outward and downward from said plate, as shown in Fig. 6 or said hook I) may be formed on a separate plate, B, as shown at the left of Fig. 7.

IVhen intended for use upon a stocking or garment supporter, the plate A has formed therein the two slots 0 and (I, one near its upper end and the other near its lower end, and

the lower portion of said plate is bent to the rear and upward, the line of bend being through the center of the slot (1, as shown in Fig. 6. The slots 0 and rl are for the purpose of attaching the suspension-webbing e thereto, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. A wire baillike lever, C, is mounted in bearings in the cars a a, and is provided with the crank-like offsets ffabout midway of its length, one in each arm of said bail-like lever, and upon each of which crank-ofisets is journaled the end of one arm of the wire stirrup or loop 9, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, S, and 7. The webbing 0 may be suspended from a garter-band for the purpose of supporting a stocking; or it may have attached to its other end another clasp for use as a slcevesupporter, in either of which cases the fabric to be supported or clasped will be drawn over the hook I) or between it and the stirrup or loop 9 when said stirrup and the bail-lever C arein the position shown in Fig. 3, when the stirrup g is pressed toward the plate A until its lower end presses the fabric hard against said plate below the hook I), when, if the upper end of the lever G is pressed toward the plate A, the cross-bar at the lower end of the stirrup y will be drawn beneath the hook I), carrying with it the fabric and holding the same firmly clamped thereto without danger of injury to the garment, as

' no puncturing prongs or teeth are used.

It will be observed that the bail-1ike lever G has an extreme width at a point between the crank-offsets ffand its journals slightly greater than the distance between the two arms of the stirrup g at an equal distance from said crank-offsets, so that in order that the bail 0 may assume the position shownin Figs. 1 and 2 the bail 0 must be sprung inward at said points, or the arms of the stirrup must be sprung outward, to permit said arms to pass the bail C and assume the position at the rear of said bail, as shown in Fig. 2. By this construction and arrangement the clasp is locked against accidental disengagement from the article clasped, and when unclasped the bail-lever G and the stirrup g are readily made to assume the position shown in Fig. 3, for the purpose of applying the clasp to the fabric.

In order to apply the same principle and substantially the same mechanical device to securing together the two parts of a'separable articleas corsets, overshoes,and various other artic1esI make the base-plate in two parts, one carrying thelever Oand stirrup g and the other the hook I), said plates being secured by any convenient means, as riveting or sewing to opposite parts of the article to be clasped, as shown in Fig. 7. The operation of this arrangement of the clasp is precisely the same as before described, except that'no fabric is inserted between the stirrup g and the plate A, and, as a matter of convenience in clasping the article with the desired degree of tightness, a plurality of hooks, b, may be used, if desired, instead of a single hook.

If desired, the slot (1 and the bending of the lower end of the plate A may be dispensed with and the webbing a be attached by passing it through the slot 0, and sewing the same to gether above the end of the plate, as shown in Fig. 10.

The stirrup 9, instead of being attached to the lever G at the offsets f, may be extended beyond said offsets and pivoted to the crossbar at the end of the lever O, as shown in Fig. 8, the two arms of said stirrup having short reverse bends or ofi'sets it formed therein, so that it may snap past the bulge or bend in the lever nearits pivots, to lock the same, as shown in Fig. 9, without departing from the principles of my invention; and, further, the lever C may be made of sheet metal, instead of wire, in either of the forms shownin Figs. 10, 11, or 12, the lever shown in Fig. 10 being substantially the same in principle of operation as that shown in Fig. l, and the lever shown in Fig. 11 being substantially the same as that shown in Fig. 8, except that sheet metal is substituted for wire. In the form shown in Fig. 12 the journals by which said lever C is pivoted to the plate A project outward from the plate from which said lever is formed, instead of inward, as in Fig. 1, and the ends of said journals serve to lock the elasping-stirrup g in substantially the same manner as the bend near the journals of the wire lever shown in Fig. 1, locks the same as before described.

\Vhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. A clasp for supporting or securing articles of wearing-apparel and for other purposes, composed of a base-plate, a lever pivoted to said plate by one end, astirrup or bail pivoted to said lever at a point removed from the pivotal axis of said lever, and a hook having its point or open side turned from the pivotal axis of said lever, and arranged to engage with the crossbar of said stirrup when the le ver is moved about its pivotal axis to a posi tion parallel; or nearly so, :to the base-plate, and upon the side of said pivotal axis oppo site to said hook.

2. Aclasp composed of a base-plate, alever pivoted by one end to said plate, a stirrup or bail pivoted to said lever by the ends of its two arms at points removed from the axis of motion of said lever, and having a width between its two arms at a point near the axis of said lever,when the clasp is closed, somewhat less than the extreme width of said lever at a point near the pivotal axis of said lever, and a hook having its point or open side turned from the axis of said lever, all constructed, arranged, and combined substantially as described.

3. The combination of the base-plateA, provided with the slot 0, the hook I), the lever C. pivoted to said plate between the hook I) and the slot 0, the stirrup g, pivoted to the lever 0 outside of its pivotal axis, and the webbing c, all constructed, arranged, and adapted to operate substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specifieatiomin the presence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 3d day of April, A. D. 1886.

SIGOURNEY XVALES. \Vitnesses:

N. O. LOMBARD, WALTER E. LOMBARD. 

